Cicadas Emerge In VA, DC; Billions Of Brood X Swarm To Come

WASHINGTON, DC — While reports noted isolated instances of cicadas emerging in the northern Virginia/DC region, cool weather has delayed the coming invasion. Experts say when warmer temperatures set in later this week, swarms of the 17-year periodical cicadas will burst out of the ground.

The emergence happens with an almost singular purpose: Go forth and multiply to ensure the species will emerge again in a deafening buzz and promptly drop dead after finishing the one job they worked their way out of the ground to do.

Brood X periodical cicadas are only found in the eastern United States and emerge once every 17 years. In DC and surrounding Virginia, they began to emerge in early May and will die off by the end of June.

Researchers say billions of Brood X 17-year cicadas will also emerge in New Jersey, Maryland, and West Virginia.

Dr. Michael Raupp, known for his Bug Guy blog and a professor emeritus of entomology at the University of Maryland, said parts of Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia will witness the spectacle.

Raupp also said cicadas are good protein snacks for humans; his students have come up with recipes using the critters.

Reports of a few of the insects creeping out of their holes were made to The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang a week ago, but the major emergence has yet to materialize. Twitter users in College Park, Maryland, along with Washington, D.C., and Great Falls and Vienna, Virginia, spotted a few cicadas.

"They are waiting for the proper temperature, humidity or rainfall, or a combination of all three to trigger a mass exodus," the Post wrote.

A trigger for cicada emergence is a consistent soil temperature of 64 degrees or higher, Daniel Gruner, a professor in the entomology department at the University of Maryland, told the Post.

Paula Shrewsbury, another UMD scholar, told the Post she agrees “there will be more massive emergence (this) week.”

American Humane urged families to learn about the creatures that have lain in wait for nearly two decdaes, sucking the roots of plants and trees for sustenance as they prepare for their brief adult life.

Benefits from the swarm include aerating the soil as cicadas burrow and tunnel; fertilizing the soil as their corpses decay; and pruning mature trees as female cicadas lay their eggs at the end of branches, which helps some species of trees produce more flowers and fruit the following year, the group said.

“Cicadas have long fascinated humans – for their jaw-dropping numbers and large size. Despite their frightening appearance, cicadas are a wonderful, natural part of life, and a reminder that humans are just one of millions of species who call Earth home,” said Dr. Robin Ganzert, president & CEO of American Humane.

Most cicada nymphs are lurking in their underground tunnels, the Post said, waiting for warmth to emerge. Foxes, dogs and other animals are digging them up to snack on.

Once above ground, the insects live for just a few weeks. During this short lifespan, they shed their nymphal exoskeletons, grow wings, fly, sing, mate, lay eggs in trees, and then die. In late July to early August, their eggs hatch. The tiny white nymphs will fall from trees and immediately begin to burrow underground, where they will live until 2038.

Cicadas do not chew, bite, or sting, so they are not a threat to humans, pets, animals, or most plants. If your pet or animal consumes a few cicadas, they should be fine, though over-indulging may upset their stomach.

“Once in the treetops, hey, it’s all going to be about romance. It’s only the males that sing. It’s going to be a big boy band up there as the males try to woo those females, try to convince that special someone that she should be the mother of his nymphs,” Raupp, the UMD entomologist, told The Associated Press. “He’s going to perform, sing songs. If she likes it, she’s going to click her wings. They’re going to have some wild sex in the treetop.

“Then she’s going to move out to the small branches, lay their eggs. Then it’s all going to be over in a matter of weeks. They’re going to tumble down. They’re going to basically fertilize the very plants from which they were spawned. Six weeks later, the tiny nymphs are going to tumble 80 feet from the treetops, bounce twice, burrow down into the soil, go back underground for another 17 years.”

Raupp practically lives for the emergence of periodical cicadas, and he is quoted so often about cicadas’ extraordinarily long life cycle that he emerges along with them every 17 years as the reigning cicada expert.

“This,” he told The AP, “is one of the craziest life cycles of any creature on the planet.”

Other than the dangers from farm and lawn chemicals sprayed on the ground above them, everything’s pretty chill during the 17 years that periodical cicadas — or 13, depending on the species — spend underground. Scientists say Brood X, also known as the Great Eastern Brood, is expected to be the largest ever with potentially trillions of cicadas, burrowed underground as nymphs 17 years ago.

Besides Virginia, the 17-year cicadas will be emerging in Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Researchers have said that in our state, cicadas will be plentiful in Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Ashburn, Centreville, Chantilly, Del Ray, Fairfax, Falls Church, Franconia, Herndon, Lorton, Manassas, Oakton, Reston, Springfield, Sterling and Vienna.

Related:

• You Can Eat 17-Year Cicadas Emerging In Virginia
• Billions of 17-Year Cicadas Will Emerge In Virginia in 2021
• Cicadas Swarm And Copperheads Snack: It's A Thing In Virginia, DC

Anyone with a smartphone can download the free Cicada Safari app to help with the data collection on the emergence Brood X — or Great Eastern Brood, as this population also is known.

It's just a matter of snapping a photo or short video and uploading it. The app automatically captures the time, date and geographical coordinates. Once the images are verified, the information is mapped.

The Cicada Safari app was developed by Gene Kritsky, the dean of Behavioral and Natural Sciences at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati and the author of "Periodical Cicadas: The Brood X Edition." The app is available for both iOS and Android operating systems.